


Shooting Star

by Whookami



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Other, Unhappy Ending, pre-established Stoncy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:28:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25608898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whookami/pseuds/Whookami
Summary: Nancy and Jonathan watch a video of their boyfriend and reminisce on how unlikely and unexpected it was for their lives to have reached this point.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler, Stoncy - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Shooting Star

**Author's Note:**

> This is a kind of rambling collection of thoughts and feelings that sort of wrote itself one morning. I just have a lot of Stoncy feelings near constantly. Note that this takes place in a sunken world AU, in which our Hawkins has fallen into the Upside Down. I really like this concept and might write more in this setting, but for now enjoy this for what it is.

  


”It’s—it’s okay, y’know?” 

  


The tape is grainy, not the best quality to begin with, but it still paints it’s feature star in loving detail. Steve is sitting facing the camera, eyes soft and hair in disarray. Truth be told, Jonathan and Nancy both prefer it when Steve isn’t picture perfect. They love him best when his skin is flushed and hair plastered damply to his forehead. They love him when his walls are crumbled ruins at their relentless assault and he _trusts them_ with his genuine self. Because really, what isn’t there to love about Steve Harrington? 

  


The real man, they mean. The one they eventually grew to know, not the immature boy they each _thought_ they understood while growing up. 

  


To Nancy he’d always been a distant star, bright and blinding as he flew above everyone else, part of a constellation suspended eternally through the myths and legends that had attached to his name. He would burn hot and fast and then fade into nothing but a memory. The type of person you vaguely recall from youth, without having ever really known them. 

  


To Jonathan he was an annoyance. He behaved like rules were meant to be broken, but only if you were rich enough to make the consequences go away before they could be felt. He never so much as teased or bullied Jonathan directly (well, until a fateful day in November of Eighty-three) but was a constant presence, much like Nancy’s star, but progressed to it’s final stage. Harrington had been a black hole, inexorably drawing everything towards himself, somehow always selfishly expecting more. He built himself up at the cost of others, always so desperate for attention, approval. In retaliation Jonathan had scorned him, derided the high school social scene and willingly cast himself out. The Steve Harringtons of the world would eventually grow too big, bloat and implode on themselves, usually right around the time they graduated. Jonathan was patient by nature and knew that if left alone fate would run it’s inevitable course. 

  


Both had essentially dismissed the older teen in the same way. Eternally eighteen in spirit, doomed to diminish and fade out before he ever reached thirty. If, when, they came home from college, Steve would likely be working for his dad, have a pretty blonde wife, a kid and a dog. On a particularly cynical day it wouldn’t be hard to imagine a guy like that winding up wrapping his mouth around one too many bottles of expensive booze before his lips eventually wound up around the barrel of a gun. 

  


Staring at his tired smile, his hands nervously carding through his hair on the video footage...it was hard to remember a time so long ago. When had things changed? When had he become so inextricably a part of them that the distance between the three stung and pulled like it’s own undeniable force? None of them had planned on this.

  


Nancy had wanted fun. A little old fashioned teenage rebellion. Steve Harrington had certainly seemed like the kind of boy ripe and ready to deliver on the wicked promise of his smile. Take a little walk on the wild side for her junior year, hell, maybe senior year too. Steve would’ve already graduated, but he’d still be around, working for his old man. She would wear the most beautiful dress, go to her prom in a limousine, and end high school crowned Queen. Steve was a pretty face and just a hint of small-town danger, and Nancy’s ticket to the perfect high school experience. When she left for college she’d maybe write letters for a while, but their lives would diverge and she was fine with that. It was for the best really. Nancy had no intentions on staying trapped in her boring Midwest hamlet. The world was huge and unknown and unknowable, and she wanted to see and experience as much of it as she could. 

  


Jonathan had just wanted the fuck out. He dreamt of a city where he could lose himself in the throng. Where he wasn’t the sole weirdo loner biting at the fringes of society, but just another nameless face in a living breathing universe filled with others as unique and outcast as he was. They were out there, part of the big picture, the world behind the well defined lines that separated his home town from something more, something _better_. The Steve Harringtons were out there, sure, but no one really gave a fuck about them. Who cared about how many games your varsity sports team won when there were artists and musicians and poets who could bring a person real emotions, a whole new awareness, just with the fruits of their creativity? Strip everyone bare and they were essentially equal except for a few traits. Sure, some would still be beautiful, but looks weren’t necessarily permanent and made no statement about one’s quality of character. Intelligence. Creativity. Ingenuity. Empathy. The people who possessed those traits would go so much further than some guy who could bounce a ball up and down while running. Jonathan was going to take his shot at changing the world with his art and forget all about the small minded small town folks who never believed in him because his father was a drunken ass and his mother had to work twice as hard to make ends meet. He’d pay her back and more someday. Him and his brother both. 

  


For his part, Steve assumed he’d work for his dad. By twenty-five he’d probably have a wife and a dog. Something big and loyal. A German Shepard or a Husky, maybe. They’d live in a nice house, the down payment a wedding gift from his parents, and in a year or two they’d be welcoming their first child into the world. It just seemed like the logical path, like he’d been specifically designed to fill this role in the universe. It didn’t matter that he hated it, that he had zero interest in any of it. Sure, Steve liked girls. Loved sex. But he wasn’t sold on marriage. His parents were miserable in their union and since he was pretty certain they weren’t staying together for his sake, he knew the legal details of divorce were the only stumbling blocks in their way. He didn’t feel in a rush to land himself in the exact same situation (which, it should be said, was just what Steve assumed would happen. The idea of a happy marriage that lasted a lifetime hadn’t even occurred to him), he’d be fine to skip it entirely. He wouldn’t mind the dog though. Dogs were cool, like tame wolves. Steve definitely was all in favour of being a pet owner. The idea of something unfailingly loyal, loving, and happiest of all when Steve returned home held a definite appeal. The rest was just...the boring minutia of how lives went. He’d been dealt a particular hand and was content, or just apathetic enough, to let it play out the way his parents dictated. 

  


Or he’d thought he was. 

  


No one had actually counted on Steve turning out to be a good person. Hell, the individual most surprised by that revelation was probably Steve himself. 

  


It was amazing how drastically your life could shift with just one small nudge. One alteration to your previously held assumptions and the world just opened up. In Steve’s case it coincided with a flower opening up and revealing the endless rows of teeth concealed inside. Monsters existed and Steve wasn’t ever going to be happy with a white picket fence and two-point-five kids. He grabbed a bat bristling with nails and destroyed the life he’d known in a bloody mist of self discovery. 

  


It had been the best choice he’d ever made. One that finally led him to a life where he felt like he belonged, like he was _wanted_. For so long he’d been afraid of putting a name to it, labelling the way her felt about Nancy, and even Jonathan. How much Dustin, who was every bit his friend and younger...well, he knew what he really felt toward the curly haired kid, and it was enough to choke him up with unbidden tears all too often...and the other kids meant to him. Lucas was so strong and confident, but still could use a bit of reassurance now and then, an older person he could voice his doubts and insecurities to, work through them, without worrying that adults might try and stymie his forays into early adulthood, and terrified his friends just wouldn’t understand his views on the world. Not that Steve really could either, though he was dimly aware that life was definitely different for someone being one of the only black kids in the entire city. Max had needed a big brother figure in the wake of Billy’s death, seeking out an older male figure that didn’t make her feel threatened like her stepfather did, someone she could trust and was still young enough to understand the confusing welter of feelings she was going through. Steve had confessed that while his own parents had never gotten physical with him, he understood psychological warfare all too well. Will had a big brother, but there were also things that sometimes you needed to run past a person, someone with a few more years of experience than you (at least in the real world, trapped in the Upside Down sort of had Will and El as their experts now), but not close enough that he would be devastated if any of his personal revelations led to rejection or revulsion. El didn’t need him as much, but she often sought him out for explanations that other adults refused to give her. Steve reasoned it was better she understand the truth than accidentally find herself in situations in which she didn’t realize what was happening, or didn’t know that she had the right to say ‘no’ to. Mike...well, the younger Wheeler just came to him when he was looking to vent some steam and trading insults with Steve, usually over some board game or story that needed dice for unknown reasons, but he didn’t mind if it helped Mike clear himself of all the potent emotions he held back as best as he could. Steve knew repression too well, and he definitely didn’t want to encourage it in any of his kids. And then there was also Robin. Robin. His other half. The girl who he found almost by accident and made him feel like he’d been missing her all his life. He might not be in love with her, but he loved her like she was...that dreaded word always hovered right behind his lips, buzzing madly in his head with the desire to escape. These people were his _family_ even if he’d been too afraid to say it out loud. The last two people who he had considered his, his parents, his family, hadn’t felt the same about him. He was loathe to use the words, to release them out into the world and make them _real_ , only to be confronted with another round of rejection. 

  


Ultimately, Steve had no regrets, and given the opportunity would do it all again, knowing that he had kept everyone he loved as safe as he could. It was enough for him.

  


Jonathan and Nancy knew some of this, of course. There were hardly any secrets between the three of them, and even if Steve had never said it, those feelings shone from his eyes whenever he looked at those he loved. They themselves were the two most often on the receiving end of those warm glances. They only wished the camera could capture that look for them now, but the technology was simply too lacking, the footage marred with staticky lines that intermittently scrolled down the screen as they watched with baited breath.

  


A scuttling noise could be heard off screen, distant but not enough that it’s not a threat. Almost everything in this other world is, after all. The focus blurs for a moment, and the figure sitting against the tree goes silent, cheek pressed against the bark as he cranes his head in search of the sound. 

  


Eventually it passes and his chest deflates with a relieved sigh. His lips stretch into a smile, crooked and warm and so achingly familiar. 

  


”Close, huh?” He breathes softly, sweat glistening along his upper lip in the dim light coming from the camera. 

  


”Oh Steve,” Nancy whispers to herself, nails buried in Jonathan’s shirt and digging deep enough he can feel the bite of them through layers of fabric. 

  


For a moment the image shakes and the scene topples to the side as they both inhale a panicked gasp. It takes a moment but it rights itself and Steve’s once again in the shot, though tilted to the side. He’s still smiling, but it looks too thin, too stretched out across his face. He’s doing his best to wear it for them. They’ve known him long enough now, become familiar enough with those lips to recognize when it’s anything less than genuine. 

  


”Sorry,” he grimaces for a second before snapping back to that plastic calm that hurts so much. “Leg spasm. It’s getting...it hurts, is all.” 

  


Hurts? Fucking _Steve_. He’d had the indents of several dozen teeth in his thigh, piercing the denim with enough force that in moments the fabric had been caked to his leg in blood. Jonathan’s coat had become a casualty to the cause, wrapped tight around the wound to try and stem the flow. Steve had barely reacted to the pain, body on auto-pilot as they’d weighed their possible moves. 

  


Well, Nancy and Jonathan had. Steve had gone quiet, leaning back heavily against one of the twisted black trees that seemed to be the only vegetation thriving in this infected world. He had fiddled with his bat, eyes staring off into the gloom as his lovers whispered frantically back and forth, ideas forming and being tossed aside in moments. All the while screeching and snarling had filled the background with an uneasy music, the constant threat that was inescapable even when unseen. 

  


Neither had realized when Steve had come to his own decision, but the moment had been captured by the lens of Jonathan’s camera, the resigned determination of the man as he worked free the heavy knot on his belt. 

  


Nancy and Jonathan had only taken notice that something was up when Steve wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, panting from the effort of just walking from the tree to their huddled forms. “You guys,” he’d shook his head lightly, hair still mostly on point despite the humidity and their peril. He had pushed a kiss to Nancy’s temple before leaning into Jonathan to capture his lips. He parted slowly, unwillingly and bent his head down to properly meet Nancy’s kiss. “I love you so much,” he’d whispered, the fondness in his eyes gleaming in the strained light. “So much.” His tone had been fierce, almost harsh. It held a weight they could feel in their hearts and it was true for both of them as well. They loved this ridiculous boy. 

  


And then Steve had just let go, grabbed the camera from Jonathan’s shoulder and shoved them away. “El!” Steve shouted, eyes wide and determined as he looked directly into the lens and deeper beyond. “Pull it back, NOW!” 

  


Jonathan had stood slack jawed, his mind simply unable to accept what was happening, but Nancy had instantly been in motion, reaching for the other boy, anger and desperation rising from her chest in a formless cry. Steve chose the easiest way to dodge and simply let his leg give out beneath him, toppling to the rot covered forest floor. It was too late to grab him, to make contact. The line around their waists had suddenly snapped stiff and then they were both being yanked, pulled backwards across the desolate landscape, miles and miles of tied together scraps of rope and chain gathering into a giant ball as they were reeled back towards camp, towards the last zone of safety that remained since this nightmare had begun. 

  


Except it hadn’t seemed so terrible before, not in hindsight. Not while the three of them were together. Now watching Steve’s face as he tried to desperately hide his pain and sadness from them, this was when the nightmare was truly beginning. 

  


”I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” his eyes drooped, staring down at his lap, at his jeans, caked and crusted to his thigh. “My blood. It would lead them right to us. I couldn’t, y’know? I couldn’t do that to everyone.” 

  


”You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington,” Nancy chided softly, half her face buried in Jonathan’s arm, not wanting to watch but unwilling to look away from these moments, from whatever Steve still had left to say. The video didn’t go on much longer, El had warned, so both knew they must almost be at the end by now. They didn’t have much time left together. 

  


”Kali can’t keep ‘em all from smelling it, there’s too many. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I can’t let that happen. You guys will figure this out, I know you will. You’re all so brilliant and amazing and I know you can do it. If anyone can stop this from taking everything, it’s you. All of you. Nance, Jon, Dustin, Robs, El...Kali...Joyce, uh...shit. All of you, okay? Sorry I’m leaving off names. It’s...it’s close. I ca—zzzz” the screen turns to fuzz for a moment, the power flickering in and out as the grainy image of Steve whips around, dark eyes gone huge. “Zzz—s here. Oh sh—-zzz—-otta go, try ‘n run. Oh—-zzzz—-I love you both, love you—zzzzz—-lways g—-“ the camera falls a final time and the last image it captures is the three stripes on the side of Steve’s running shoe as he turns to go. The screen is black and El pulls the ribbon from her eyes tiredly. She wipes absently at the blood under her nose. 

  


”There isn’t more. I’m sorry,” she says sadly, her eyes taking them each in turn, soft and compassionate. It’s clear she wishes she hadn’t had to watch the tape along with them, wishes they could have had privacy, but only her ability could find and channel the tape for them, the same way she had been signalled to pull the two back to camp. If she had known, she would’ve tried to reach beyond the rope, tried to feel out for Steve just beyond their tether, but no one had considered that anyone would willingly untie themselves rather than return back. 

  


It hurt everyone. Their first real loss since Hawkins had been pulled under, since they’d become trapped. According to Kali, Steve had done the right thing, she couldn’t have kept the illusion shield up while also trying to erase the scent of blood trailing all the way back to camp. He’d been lauded as a hero, and he was, to all except two people who had known him as an idiot first. 

  


Steve Harrington was a shooting star, burning out brighter than any before. His love was an indelible mark, a fire that continued to blaze in the chests of the two he had loved more than anything. Now he was up there, waiting. Someday they would see him again, but only after they’d fixed this. When they’d honoured the man they loved by getting Hawkins back to the real world, by not letting his sacrifice be for nothing.

  


They’d see Steve again.

  


Even when a star burns out it’s light continues to shine for years. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
